Attention 1st Time Phoenix Buyers!!!

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 | Money, Real Estate, The Economy | No Comments

City of Phoenix
Arizona
Republic
Public Information Office
July 28, 2010

News Clippings
Foreclosure-home auction geared to 1st-time buyers
by Catherine Reagor – Jul. 28, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Prospective buyers trying to purchase Phoenix foreclosure homes to live in will have first dibs on 135
houses that mortgage giant Freddie Mac is auctioning off next month.
Buyers, particularly first-timers using government incentives and mortgage financing, have had a
tough time competing with investors for inexpensive foreclosure homes in metropolitan Phoenix over
the past 18 months. This auction, Aug. 7 at the Phoenix Convention Center, is geared toward buyers
who plan to live in the houses.
HomeSteps, the real-estate-sales unit of Freddie Mac, is offering to pay qualifying buyers up to 3
percent of their closing costs. Almost a third of the foreclosure homes going on the auction block
are set aside for first-time buyers using federal funds from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.
In spring 2009, Arizona and several metropolitan Phoenix cities received $121 million in
Neighborhood Stabilization funding to help the areas hardest hit by foreclosures. Much of the funding
has gone toward providing closing costs and funds to help first-time homebuyers purchase and fix up
foreclosure homes. A portion of the Neighborhood Stabilization funding that the Arizona Housing
Department received will go to helping buyers at the Freddie Mac auction.
Foreclosures dipped earlier this year, prompting hope that the crisis was easing. But foreclosures
in the Phoenix area climbed by almost 20 percent in June, according to the Information Market.
“Owner-occupants are the key to strengthening neighborhoods in the Phoenix market,” said Jim Park,
CEO of New Vista, which is working with Freddie Mac on the auction.
A seminar for prospective buyers is scheduled at Neighborhood Housing Services of Phoenix
on Tuesday. Prospective Phoenix buyers can check out the homes at auction .com/phoenix.
Freddie Mac has held similar foreclosure-home auctions in California and Las Vegas.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/2010/07/28/
20100728biz-catherine0728.html#ixzz0v0MFbnZ9

Friday, July 23rd, 2010 | Investment, Money, Real Estate | No Comments

For Our Military

Thursday, July 15th, 2010 | Real Estate | No Comments

One way I can say thank you.

A Painting “One Nation Under God”

Thursday, July 15th, 2010 | Real Estate | No Comments

I think it is something to see

What Happened to the 1st Time Home Buyer?

Thursday, July 8th, 2010 | Investment, Real Estate, Statistics, The Economy | No Comments

The big news about first time home buyers was that the government had extended the time for the $8,000 tax credit. Unfortunately, in the small print was that the extension was only for contracts that were in process of closing. So the buyer who didn’t purchase before the deadline are not going to see any tax credits. This was also true for the move up $6,500 credit.

Can you guess what happened to the 1st time home buyer market? The 1st time buyer market share dropped from 48.2% to 42.0%. Current buyers rose from 33.5% to 39.5%. Investors were just about flat at 18.3%.

In the Phoenix market the only significant change in the sale of residential real estate is that pending sales are down 17% from last month and 18% from last year. There is a drop in demand which brings our market to stable supply and demand. The median price for a home is $127,000 with the average price at $181,643.
These are current up to date statistics from the Cromford Report.

If after you look at the numbers you ask yourself “so what does that mean?” The market is showing only a slight decrease. If it continues then you can expect thing to go poorly. But the change is so slight that you can be somewhat encouraged. The market has to stop going down before it can go up.

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 | Real Estate | No Comments

A New Short Sale Program!

Monday, May 3rd, 2010 | Money, Real Estate | No Comments

The U. S. Treasury Department has implemented a program to improve the entire short sale system. The program has only been fully implemented since April 5th. It is designed to simplify the system with standard forms and quick response from lenders.

Google HAFA and you can read a lot of information. Not having completed any short sale with this system, it is too early to give a definitive report. The program is supposed to take home owners who were not successful with the HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) and give them the option of a short sale with pre-approved pricing and short lender response time. Another qualification is that the mortgage payment is supposed to be at least 31% of the gross household income.

Overall, the program looks to have promise. This looks to be a program that could really assist upside-down home owners who need to sell their home without having to trash their credit by not making any mortgage payments. The program caps a mortgage payment to 31% of gross income during the HAFA process.

Keep you posted as I see more of the program.

Have you attended a Tea Party?

Friday, April 16th, 2010 | Money, The Economy | No Comments

Yesterday was tax day. Phoenix had a tea party at Tempe Diablo Stadium.

Don’t know how many seats there were in the stadium. but it looked to be about 2/3 full. They leaders announced that there were about 7,500 attending.

The politicians have reported this group is full of old white racist red necks. It looked to me that much of the group were composed of women. The two people in front of we were women that looked to be in their early 40s. The group behind me were two couples about the same age. Lots of kids!

Local organizers were introduced. I didn’t realize how many chapters are in the valley. There were more than a dozen people introduced as organizers/leaders. Lots of speakers with a lot of information. I was glad I went.

Short Sale or Foreclosure?

Thursday, January 21st, 2010 | Real Estate | No Comments

Short sale or foreclosure what is the difference? Which is better for me.

Being in the real estate business and dealing with these two terms all day, it is still a little surprising that so many people are still asking that question. But then, if you have no interest in real estate you probably don’t hear much about these two and very different financial situations.

I am writing this short article with the disclaimer that I have heard from a radio program. “Handle(SP) on the law.” This is marginal legal advice. My law degree is not in the mail. The only law classes I have ever taken were in the law school – The University of Hard Knocks!

Lets deal with the term “short sale.” The only thing short about a short sale is the mortgage company gets shorted it’s money from the borrower. The mortgage company will review the sale contract and decide if it will except the partial payment to allow the seller to sell the property without encumbrances. That doesn’t mean the mortgage company actually loses money, our tax money went to AIG and AIG might reimburse the lender. Many lenders have a very long approval process. As a Realtor(R), I am supposed to explain it could take weeks to months to complete a home purchase.

A seller in a short sale frequently but not necessarily has late mortgage payments hitting their credit during the sale process. Some banks seem to encourage late payments to even allow their sale approval process to begin. So the seller’s credit score will start to decline. After the property sale is complete the seller will probably have to wait 24 months to get a new mortgage.

A foreclosure is a different animal all together. The home owner is not a seller. The lender takes the property and evicts the former owner. The bank will sell the property. If it’s note is satisfied additional proceeds may in some states, the former owner may receive the excess proceeds. The former owner will have a very negative credit item added to the credit history.   Don’t expect to get another mortgage for five years!

For me personally, I feel even though a short sale can be a hassle, it is the least damaging of the three options. The foreclosure as far as I am concerned is worse than a bankruptcy. A person can get another mortgage after a bankruptcy much faster than a foreclosure if the borrower has obtained other credit and developed a good credit history after the bankruptcy.

There you have my humble explanation with very marginal and unprofessional legal advice.

Can It Be NOW is a Good Time for a Mortgage?

Friday, January 15th, 2010 | Real Estate | No Comments

Can It Be NOW is a Good Time for a Mortgage?

Buying a home

Every now and then, the economy produces a time when it is a good idea to refinance your

mortgage or purchase a home.  For many, that time is now. 

Low interest rates are bringing first time homebuyers out by the score and that’s driving the

resale market.  Those of you on variable rates or coming off of fixed rates can benefit, too. 

Today’s prime is at 2.25% compared to last year’s prime at 4.75%, or two years ago at 6.25%. 

Conventional wisdom would say that now’s the time to take the money and run by lowering your  payments and pocketing some cash.  Instead, you could decide to keep the payments the same, and assuming nothing has changed for you in that you could afford the payments two years ago and you can still afford them today, you could shave serious time off the term of your mortgage. 

Or you could still lower your payments and take some money for other things.  The current

circumstances allow you the choice.  Ironically, this is all a result of the recession.

In fact, homeowners facing resets on their adjustable rate mortgages or hoping to refinance into less burdensome loans may be the biggest beneficiaries of the recession.  As many as two million homeowners may be facing ARM resets this year and declining interest rates hold out the hope of refinancing to an affordable fixed rate.  If you bought your house with an adjustable rate mortgage, as many did, a few years back, then you want to be sure to note when it changes from a fixed rate mortgage to the adjustable rate portion. For many of you, it could be getting real close, if that time has not already occurred. Refinancing could give you a stable payment and a new interest rate, too.

While it’s impossible to predict what will happen to rates for the rest of 2009, and beyond, many mortgage professionals are advising clients to act now.  Right now is the time to consider what you need to accomplish.  If cash flow is a concern, why wait?  Increase your cash flow by refinancing and have one less concern.  With lower rates, more people are able to qualify for refinancing and more people who were left out from buying homes before will be able to do so now.

 Contributor:

Ted Canto, Sr. Mortgage Consultant

Academy Mortgage